The present invention relates generally to toys and more particularly to hand-held throwing and catching devices for maintaining a spherical object, such as a ball, in continuous motion through the exercise of dexterity, coordination and skill.
In toys of the kind designed to keep a spherical body or ball in play by one or more players, the game apparatus for tossing and catching the ball has taken a variety of forms, one class of which generally comprises a curved guide having a semi-circular crosssection and a ball-receiving funnel at one of two upturned ends. Examples of this class of game apparatus are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,510,403 to E. J. Krupp, 3,392,978 to W. H. Wiest, Jr., and 4,045,027 issued to Wayne E. Manska. With this type of thrower and catcher a ball in ballistic flight may be caught in the funnel and delivered therefrom to the guide under the momentum acquired in its flight to the funnel and thrown or ejected from the other end of the guide with a minimum of manual effort. To insure that the device be capable of smoothly and efficiently receiving and directing a ball along its surface much attention is given to the curvature and the flare of the sidewalls so as to minimize the tendency of the ball to ricochet and spiral from one side of the funnel to the other as it traverses from the wide to the narrow end of the funnel.
A variation on the funnel-type of thrower and catcher described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,025,995 to Lerch consists of a cage having a generally funnel shape and includes wire bracing members extending from a ring at the mouth of the funnel to a ring adjacent the exit end. The funnel mouth has a much larger diameter than the exit end and is covered with resilient rubber fingers which deflect to allow the ball to enter but which prevent the ball from leaving by way of the mouth of the funnel. Thus, just as is the case of the other three funnel-like devices discussed above, the funnel end is utilized exclusively for catching and the other end is used exclusively for throwing.
Another game device of this general type which uses a cup instead of a funnel to catch and receive the ball is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,582,811 issued to Milton D. Adler. This patent is directed to a ball thrower and catcher embodying a rigid trackway which is generally straight except for an upwardly curved end portion adapted to project a ball into space in a direction to permit it to be caught in a cup secured to the other end of the trackway. Thus, this device is incapable of maintaining a ball in continuous flight or motion because after being caught in the cup the ball must be released before it can again be guided down the trackway.
A ball catcher and thrower having an arcuate ball guiding track and adapted to receive or eject the ball at either end of the track is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,505,090 issued to William L. Berry. The arcuate track consists of a bottom rail and two upper side rails each formed of wire and connected to each other by stiffening members. The side rails may extend over their entire length parallel to each other, but preferably they flare outwardly at the ends to increase the area of the catching and throwing surface. The toy is manipulated by a hand grip oositioned equidistant from the ends of the track and fixedly secured to the track-forming wires.
A fundamental problem in the design of apparatus of this type is to provide a catching surface having a shape adapted to receive a ball in ballistic flight and which will smoothly and progressively change the direction of the ball. A general object of the present invention is to provide a ball catching and throwing device which satisfies this design criteria with a structure that is simpler and thus more easily manufactured than prior art game apparatus.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved ball throwing and catching device which enables a player to maintain a ball in continuous flight depending on his dexterity and ability to repeat the cycle of tossing and catching the ball.
Another and more specific object of the invention is to provide a hand-held ball throwing and catching device consisting essentially of a straight elongated tubular member having a scoop-shaped catcher at each end having a curved surface over which a ball may be directed at or from the open end of the tubular member by baton-like manipulation of the tubular member.